Steven's training for the BL continues in a library run by veiled cultists. What fun!

About this creation

Shortly after the King Rowan's death, Sir Steven was finishing the final part of his training course: an intensive study of the history, culture and military power of the Kingdom of Mythron. For him, the hours spent reading were both preferable to and more useful than the week he had passed learning horsemanship, even though Lord Cedric grumbled that his knight did enough thinking as it was.

Right now, he was thinking about the late ruler of Mythron, whose portrait hung in one corner of the library. According to the dozens of accounts held in the library, Rowan had not been a cruel person as such. True, he was quick to anger and favored draconian tactics when he bothered to concern himself with politics at all, but the scrolls and books also credited him with unmatched gallantry to peasants and warriors alike. That was the problem, Steven reflected - this war was made up of good people in the wrong jobs and, in the case of a few people like Cedric the Bull, some absolutely terrible people in exactly the right jobs.

Shaking his head to settle his thoughts, Steven set the old king aside and started to read a biography of his successor.

~ ~ ~

One week later with his training complete, Steven was half-surprised to be led back to the library by Lisa, his main contact with the Black Lotus leadership. He had not seen the revolutionary since she delivered his induction to the organization aboard his ship, and he had not thought her to be on the island of Exileseat. Her masses of orange hair were the same as before, but she had traded her dress for a lightly-armored uniform.

"Sir Steven, I present Father Leopold, our host at this institution; and Dame Yggan Hardnail, knight of the dragon. Father, captain; Sir Steven George's Son, knight of the bull. Get to know each other - we are to command an assault on the province of Meids."

To Be Continued...

~ ~ ~

Rainos MBC

The library on Exileseat is part of a quasi-monastic complex belonging to the Order of the Crown, an order of Rainosians who, aside from their leader, never speak in the company of outsiders and always wear blue or black veils beneath their hoods and helmets. Although they are fundamentally opposed to Mythron and its ways, they choose to symbolically fight fire with fire by twisting the colors, uniforms and architecture of their enemy to their own purposes.

Occasionally members of this Order cross the sea to attack high-profile targets in Mythron, but their main contribution to Rainos' war for independence has been their library. Within this building (decorated, naturally, in the style of Mythron) is held a vast collection of books and treatises on Mythron's history, culture, cities, geography, kings, leaders and its military. Raiders and warriors sailing to Mythron use this building as a resource to plan their attacks as well as a quiet place to have a nice drink.

Fourth Wall

First level of the bookshelf - black-bound records (or an encyclopedia) and a decorative half-suit of fine armor

Second level - heavy-duty tomes and histories as well as rods to hook ladders onto

Upper walls - windows and weapons
And some of you thought I bought that transparent cheese for water...

Lower wall - "portrait" of Rowan, decorative axe

Table and chair - enough said

Floor design - glass mosaic

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with this architectural scene as the product of a day well-spent... well, part of a day, at least - I still have my UC to do before the weekend ends. Unsurprisingly, the floor took me longer than any other part - I obsessed over what technique to use for an indecent amount of time, and, once the trans-blue-and-clear cheese design came into my head, I spent about an hour trying to get it to fit right (in case you're wondering why I made the floor out of glass, I have two very-good reasons - first, that's what the entire second floor of the State Library of Kansas is made of, and second, it looks much cooler than some pattern of grey and dark grey).
The portrait is the other item of note, if only for its novelty rather than its complexity. It sounded almost crazy as I ran it through my head, but I REALLY wanted to use the Rowan minifigure I made a month or two ago before the dead king faded into obscurity. Fortunately, I think it worked pretty well for a three-dimensional representation of a two-dimensional object that in turn typically represents three-or-four-dimensional objects.
That's about all I have to say for myself. Now that I've given a suitable sales pitch, I would appreciate it if one of my fellow LOM admins would rate it for MBC points. You can find the scale here. Thank you!

Great work Gilbert! The portrait is a cool idea, and I like the way it looks! Not sure what the yellow thing it supposed to be, but the walls have some great details. The mosaic on the floor is beautiful. I think what Kai is saying about the floor pattern is only because the MOC is so small and the mosaic takes up so much space. It's hard to establish a pattern, like you did with the floor tiling, and then break it in a large part of the MOC. Great job Gilbert! :)

I have mixed feelings on this one: while some bits, like the details on the walls and the portrait, are quite nice, other bits, like the flooring and stonework, seem subpar. I get the look you were trying to make with the stonework...but it wasn't especially successful; it's just too repetitive. In my failed UC, I found out that a combination of studs, round bricks/plates, normal plates, and masonry bricks all of the same color can create a nice clean look without being overly orderly or simple... The flooring is the only other major issue; while the mosaic is pretty nice (though I'm not sold on the use of glass) the random distribution of greys doesn't really fit in with the scene, plus it needs more color. That being said...nice to see the cultists return! And good luck on that UC - I think we'll both need it...

Now that I've stopped procrastinating, this build is a very good one! The architecture is great and the texturing pretty good. Used like this, backwards masonry bricks work well. I think the portrait of Rowan could use a window pane or something - something to show it's a "flat" surface. The frame also looks unfinished and a bit odd. The shelf is nice, but that black and yellow thing looks very out of place; almost modern. I also have a complaint about the floor. While the mosaic is awesome, the fact that it's just below the rest of the floor coupled with the inconsistent placement and color distribution of the tiles looks weird. And not so good. Overall, this moc is a good one but lacks some refinement in crucial areas that really take it down a notch.

Quoting David FNJ
Really nice details here Gilbert! Rating - 3. I wouldn't exactly call it a "new feature for the military power" of Rainos though. It's fine for an individual to gain knowledge of Mythron, but for the faction as a whole and calling it a new feature of its military power..it's pushing it. Still, really nice build!

Never underestimate the role of intelligence - your character was a spy once, after all.

Really nice! I love the whole concept of this library, as well as the subtle refutation of Freeling :P Also, I like the glass windows, and also the portrait of King Rowan. For defensibility, there doesn't seem to be much, though. (Unless you were planning on judging these solely by looks and techniques.)

Really nice details here Gilbert! Rating - 3. I wouldn't exactly call it a "new feature for the military power" of Rainos though. It's fine for an individual to gain knowledge of Mythron, but for the faction as a whole and calling it a new feature of its military power..it's pushing it. Still, really nice build!